A court ruled this week that it was legal for Russian police to kidnap two gay men who escaped Chechnya after facing persecution under its anti-LGBTQ+ crackdown.
Earlier this month, teen brothers Salekh Magamadov and Ismail Isayev were abducted from a safe house in the western Russian city of Nizhny Novgorod and returned to the semi-autonomous republic of Chechnya, where over 200 people have been arrested, beaten, and tortured since 2017 under suspicion of being LGBTQ+. The two brothers had been living in Russia since last year when they fled Chechya with the help of the Russia LGBT Network, a local advocacy group.
Magamadov and Isayev are reportedly being held in a detainment center in the Chechen city of Urus-Martan without access to legal counsel. Their father noted seeing handcuff marks on the brothers’ wrists when he was finally allowed visitation, as LGBTQ+ advocacy groups noted in a statement.
The teenagers are reportedly being charged with providing assistance to illegal armed groups, for which they face a potential sentence of up to 15 years in prison. Magamadov and Isayev allegedly admitted to these allegations, but a lawyer for the Russian LGBT Network told the Agence France Presse news wire that “the confessions were most likely obtained through threats and pressure.”
According to activists, Isayev was previously interrogated by Chechen police about the use of “LGBT emojis” in an online chat a year before — an action that is prohibited by a 2013 law banning pro-LGBTQ+ “propaganda.” “[T]hey beat him up, kept him in jail for three or four days until his mother paid a 300,000 ruble bribe to get him out,” David Isteyev, a representative for the Russian LGBT Network, told The Daily Beast.“He was only 16, he sounded terrified, so we helped him.”
Magamadov has also previously faced persecution by authorities. During a 2020 arrest, he was forced to record a humiliating video saying that he is “not a man.” “I am an empty space,” he said at the time.
Although the European Court of Human Rights reportedly ordered Russia to provide further information about the grounds for their detention and grant them access to legal counsel, a trial went forward on Wednesday, according to the news outlet RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty. A hearing was held in the Supreme Court of the Chechen Republic without the presence of lawyers or the parents of the detainees.
Both the Russian LGBT Network and LGBTQ+ rights group Freedom House have released statements emphasizing the “mortal danger” the boys currently face in detention. In addition to being allegedly tortured by Chechen police, the boys’ father told the Russian LGBT Network that “police officers pressured him, blackmailed him with the life of his sons and that they would dishonor him in Chechnya by showing incriminating facts on the local Grozny TV channel,” as the organization claimed in a press release.
In response to the situation, U.S. activists are calling on the Biden administration to intervene as part of the president’s recent commitment to furthering LGBTQ+ rights abroad. Earlier this month, advocacy groups RUSA LGBT and Voices4 urged Biden, along with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, to formally denounce the Russian government, which oversees Chechnya.
“We call on you to issue an emergency declaration and publicly condemn this gross violation of human rights when two individuals face sure death at the hands of the Russian government,” the groups wrote in a series of letters to the Democratic leaders.
But it remains to be seen whether the Biden administration will respond to the plea. When White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki was asked earlier this month whether the president would challenge Biden on LGBTQ+ rights, she was non-committal on the subject. “Well, the president is not afraid to make clear to President Putin the areas where he has disagreement, areas where he is concerned,” she said.
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